Woke up, went to the green market, picked up a head of romanesco, came home, made THIS, and ate the crap out of it.
It’s the season of Romanseco! The vegetable that could EASILY be too beautiful to eat. I still can’t get over how cool looking this vegetable is. I even remember being introduced to it for the first time, I thought it was the weirdest thing. It was definitely not a vegetable I grew up eating.
The vinaigrette on this dish is one that I use a lot. It’s fantastic on many other roasted vegetables and also on grilled fish and steak. It’s salty and intensely flavorful, the dill and fresh lemon juice really brighten it up. I love serving vegetables whole or almost whole. It’s so much fun serving something so rustic and full and watching your guests cut into it and serve themselves. I always have people tell me how much fun it is for them.
Ingredients
- 1 head of Romanesco- you can substitute this with cauliflower or broccoli
- 1 garlic clove-peeled but kept whole
- 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil- plus more to drizzle for plating
- 1 tsp Aleppo pepper- you can substitute with chili flakes
- 3 tablespoons capers
- 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
- 2 tsp freshly squeeze lemon juice
- fresh dill to garnish
- fresh lemon zest to garnish
- kosher salt to taste
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 435 degrees F.
2. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Cut the romanesco in half and place in the boiling water. Cover and let boil for 4-5 minutes. Remove from the water. Be as gentle as you can with the romanseco, you want it to keeps its shape. Let air dry until there is no more steam coming from it.
3. Place the romanesco on a baking tray middle part down and drizzle all over with 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil- make sure to cover all over. Season well with kosher salt and place into the oven. Let roast for 15-20 minutes until it is golden on the inside and flip. Let roast for another 15 minutes or until it is golden and slightly burnt is some places. You’ll know when it’s done when you can slide a knife in the middle and it goes in easily. Remove from the oven.
4. Make your vinaigrette- in a pan heat up 2 tablespoons of olive oil on medium low heat. Place in the garlic clove and it infuse the oil, around 5-10 minutes (do not burn the garlic! it will give it a bitter taste) remove the garlic and add in the capers. Let toast on medium heat for a couple of minutes until lightly golden and fried, add in a nice pinch of salt, the red wine vinegar and the lemon juice. Swirl until combined and then remove from the heat. Check for seasoning. Pour over the romanesco and then garnish with the fresh dill and the lemon zest. Drizzle over a little more olive oil and serve.